In many occasions, we as individuals provide personal information to other individuals, such as family and friends, or to any other entities, such as businesses and organizations. Consequently, our personal information may end up being stored electronically in many different places, such as in computers, mobile phones, and tablet devices; and in databases, such as those of financial institutions, healthcare providers, government agencies, and the like.
Our personal information can include non-sensitive information, but not limited to, phone numbers and email addresses, as well as sensitive information, but not limited to, social security numbers, credit card numbers, and bank account numbers. If some of the personal information changes, it is typically up to the individual to inform everyone of the change, which is a manual process (via phone, email, text message, website, etc). This notification process takes time and effort on the part of the individual. Additionally, the individual may not remember everyone that has his/her information, so some individuals or other entities are not notified of the change. Further, there is no guarantee that the recipients of the new information will update their electronic records for this individual. As a result, there is a high potential for human error in this manual notification process.
With respect to the impact on business, over 40 million people in the United States move each year. On average, people will change jobs 11 times in their lifetime. Businesses experience significant budgetary waste around inaccurate personal information data. For example, recent surveys revealed that nearly two out of three businesses find that between five and thirty percent of their marketing budget is wasted annually as a result of outdated data. Further, the loss of customers due to inaccurate contact data can be very costly. For example, acquiring a new customer can cost 6 to 7 times more than retaining an existing customer. Therefore, with respect to managing personal information, new approaches are needed for keeping personal information current when it changes.